


Skies Above

by KEBKEN



Category: One Piece
Genre: Absent Parents, Angst, Character Study, Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:21:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24776836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KEBKEN/pseuds/KEBKEN
Summary: Luffy feels a sense of absence. Of what, he isn’t quite sure. He has Makino and Gramps and asking for anything else would be too much, it doesn’t even cross his mind. He runs around on his own, stays close to Makino, and lives with her in Party’s Bar. He’s not supposed to complain so he doesn’t; he is not weak.
Kudos: 11





	Skies Above

Luffy feels a sense of absence. Of what, he isn’t quite sure. He has Makino and Gramps and asking for anything else would be too much, it doesn’t even cross his mind. He runs around on his own, stays close to Makino, and lives with her in Party’s Bar. He’s not supposed to complain so he doesn’t; he is not weak.

Shanks comes by and makes him think otherwise. The man is so sure of himself, a sun in his own right, and Luffy wants to be like that, wants to be more than that. Shanks does what he wants and doesn’t care about anything and Luffy feels jealous about it all. He wants to be strong too, wants to be acknowledged, wants to be more than some afterthought. Then Shanks’s image shatters with the beverage spilled on him. Shanks is free like no one else, exactly how Luffy wants to be and still gets pushed to the ground like that. Luffy sees himself and cannot stand it.

Others would say Luffy isn’t thinking when he confronts the bandits but his mind is going haywire as he shouts. They don’t get it, what they have done by putting Shanks down like that, making fun of him and his dreams. He is angry, he sees red and suddenly he's whisked away even further. 

The man and he are out at sea but it doesn’t feel freeing as it should have. This is not freedom--Luffy has never tasted it but he knows this is not it. He feels the water drag him like shackles have been woven around his small wrists and it’s Shanks strong grip that janks him free. The maw of karma comes down upon the bandit and Shanks pays a price to keep it off Luffy for a little longer. 

The tears Luffy sheds are not only his own but also Shanks, for the man refuses to reveal what he has given up for his little friend. Deep down Luffy knows but if Shanks is too afraid to say it out loud, Luffy is just the same. 

The pirates leave but not completely, they have left something with the child living at the harbor, even if they don’t realize what it is quite yet.

When Luffy meets Ace, he realizes just how desperate he really is. He won’t let his dream be crushed by spit like he had let a broken bottle upset him before. He is stronger than that. Luffy is not weak. He follows Ace deeper and deeper into the forest every day. The scraps and bruises don’t feel like a loss but like a victory, as he remains standing. The meat he swallows feels deserved for the first time in his life.

Then he hangs from a ceiling and all he knows is pain. With every punch he receives, he thinks about Ace, about Sabo, about Makino, about Shanks. Luffy has felt lonely before, but never like this. After Sabo and Ace save him he cannot keep up anymore, someone cared enough to save him and he cannot stop his tears. He is not alone. Makino is not there. Grandpa is gone as always and Shanks has left him behind. But Ace and Sabo stand before him and he feels something settle inside him. This is what he had been yearning for but it is only the beginning. Now that he’s had a taste he wants to experience it over and over again. Wants others to be able to feel the same. In a way, this is his freedom and as much as he will refuse to admit it, he wants to share it.


End file.
